In Paris, some 3,000 officers were deployed on motorcycles, in jogging gear and using inline roller skates. Still, police barely stopped the second rush at the torch, and the attempt to extinguish it with water. Other demonstrators scaled the Eiffel Tower and hung a banner depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs.

Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed.

Less than an hour later, the flame was being carried out of a Paris traffic tunnel by an athlete in a wheelchair when the procession was halted by activists who booed and chanted "Tibet."

If it weren't for the damned handicapped, today Tibet would be free!

Come on, admit it: The Olympic Torch Relay is becoming fun; like an enormous game of Capture the Flag. Note to protesters: You've got to create a diversion with the main group, and then have the little kid from the down the street sneak in from behind to grab the torch. Anyway it's all more interesting than women's volleyball.

Aren't you glad that Hitler invented it?

UPDATE: Here's some video.

Paris Protests Force Olympic Torch Delays [MSNBC]
Rings, Torch Have Ties To Hitler's Nazi Propaganda [Cincinnati Enquirer]
Ueberroth To Leave China Early For U.S. Torch Visit [USA Today]

At City Hall, Supervisor Chris Daly, who introduced the resolution critical of China, encouraged the audience that packed into the Board of Supervisors' chambers Tuesday to be on the streets and show disdain for the Chinese government during the torch relay. "The eyes of the world will be on San Francisco, and, let's be honest, if there is not alarm and there is not protest in San Francisco when the torch arrives here, that too would be news, and that would make San Francisco complicit in the human rights violations that are happening in China and around the world."

It was a wise, wise move by Olympic organizers to choose San Francisco as the only North American city to play host to the Torch Relay. In other cities — say, Denver or Dallas — officials might urge citizens to be civil and respectful, and do their utmost to avoid trouble. In San Francisco, the police beat you if you're not protesting. Plus, a third of San Francisco's population is Chinese American, so it should be fun!

Of course, the SF Supes could have voted to keep the torch out of their city entirely, but that would have denied them the opportunity to blast the Chinese government with a strongly-worded resolution! (That'll show 'em).

The route, where at some point I will quite possibly be set ablaze by monks:

Torch Route Published: Supes Critical Of China [SF Gate]